UK interdisciplinary university will open Autumn 2020

The London Interdisciplinary School (LIS) set to open next autumn will teach “problem-based” practical topics rather than academic subjects.

The university is completing its regulatory registration and is set to open next year, according to the Financial Times.

The university will interview every applicant, with a reduced focus on exam results during the selection process. It aims to recruit a large percentage of students from disadvantaged backgrounds to the university.

Psychology, maths and politics will be included in the various disciplines taught at the interdisciplinary university. The subjects will have a skills-focused approach and will look at solving problems such as knife crime and childhood obesity. Topics being developed range from fast fashion to misinformation.

Values of practicality, employability and student motivation are regarded as the desired primary outcomes from the university.

LIS is set to prepare undergraduates for work after completing their studies. The projects undertaken will be in conjunction with various companies and organisations such as the Metropolitan Police, Funding Circle, Virgin and Crossrail.

Companies and organisations that are in conjunction with LIS will also offer students paid placements during their degree.

Values of practicality, employability and student motivation are regarded as the desired primary outcomes from the university.

It is yet to be announced whether LIS will receive full regulatory approval. This would allow for the enrolment of three-year degrees with £9,000 annual tuition fees that are eligible for student loans.

Ed Fidoe, a former McKinsey consultant who created LIS after jointly founding School21, a state-funded school in East London serving disadvantaged pupils and focusing on practical learning, said: “We reflect on the way the world is going, connecting with real-world problems.”

Nick Hillman, head of the Higher Education Policy Institute think-tank, said of the interdisciplinary institution: “There’s definitely room for new providers who want to provide education in different ways. But everybody who has tried to get a new higher education institution off the ground has found it much tougher than they thought, in obtaining the right data, getting student loans and ticking the regulatory boxes.”

Plans have been drawn up to open an East London campus, with an initial intake of 120 students. Their contingency plans also suggest potentially working with another established university to award degrees if registration is delayed.

LIS has signed up almost 20 employers to collaboratively develop its projects, and has raised several millions of pounds from social investors, philanthropists and investors such as the founders of Innocent foods.